Back on track — on a collision course

This Raymond Davis business was not really about diplomatic or other statuses. Once this former commando displayed his marksmanship in crowded places, it was also no longer merely about law and justice. It was now primarily about uneasy relationships: Between the US and Pakistan; and between a frustrated people and their indifferent rulers. After some initial hiccups, one had reasons to believe that both Islamabad and Washington had grasped the complexities and the sensitivities of this case, and that they were now taking their time defusing tempers and working out agreements with which all of us, especially our angry streets, could live. How was this mother of all deals to meet this tall an order?

I do not know, except that Islamabad could not have hanged Davis or accepted him as a diplomat. That would have meant complete victory by one and total surrender by the other. A monetary settlement, too, was bound to be inadequate. No amount of money for the families of those massacred in Mozang, or in the bottomless state kitty that never lets any of that money reach the man on the street, would have assuaged his anger.

An apology by the US government, even though lacking in sincerity, was a good start, but not good enough. I concede once again that I have no idea what would have been enough: A hundred years in the jug for the undercover agent followed by a swap with the frail female, ostensibly trained to disarm a platoon of crack GIs; a commitment by the US to end drone strikes and all other mischief in the region; mass exodus of hundreds (or is it thousands?) of Raymond Davis clones running loose on our sacred territory; or mass conversion to Islam by most of the West! One could have, however, reasonably expected that to make the deal palatable, some of our still credible public figures were taken on board.

Yet again, I admit I have no clue what all has been agreed upon in the back channels. Some of it could still be safely inferred. Davis’s clandestine evacuation, probably necessary to avoid an untoward incident, has not been coordinated with any measures to contain its political fallout. Those who tried to console us that the Sharia law has not only prevailed but has also helped the mighty US save its infidel face, were quickly hiding their own. The American government has denied paying any blood money. One hopes there is some religious injunction that sanctifies ex post facto underhand deals!

And just in case some of us had wishfully believed that this bloody episode had provided us with a chance to correct the imbalances in earlier arrangements, the bloodiest of all drone attacks that followed on Davis’s heels brought us quickly down to earth. Hardball cannot be played by those who survive on foreign deals and doles. Anyone who adapted the American game of baseball to its Pakistani version of ‘softball’ must have known that we have no stomach for anything harder. Too bad that soft power — once the main plank of American foreign policy — has, in the unipolar era, firmly yielded to hard power. There is still hope. Daisy-cutters can only win battles. The wars, they lose to IEDs and exploding jackets.

An American friend from the good old days is very hopeful that after this murky deal our bilateral relations will be back on track. Indeed, except that on that track both of us were on a collision course. Of late, we took a break and recharged our batteries. With the snows melting, it is time to get on with the spring offensive.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2011.